Concern with arrests in Belarus

This weekend demonstrations took place in Minsk, dedicated to the Independency Day (Dzeni Voli), which is marked every year in Belarus on March 25th. The event comes on top of protests against a levy on those unemployed, installed by president, Alexandr Lykahsenko, more than six months ago. For the past month, hundreds of people have been detained and arrested.

In the weekend, the police arrested around 300 people including bypassing citizens who had no connection to the demonstrations. Although the demonstration on March 25th was not a sanctioned event, the use of force by Belarusian authorities seems disproportionate. The Danish Institute for Human Rights expresses its deepest concerns with the events in Minsk.

Moreover, we are concerned with the arrest of 57 civil society activists and journalists, includingour partners, during the debriefing at human rights center Viasna office on March 25th, which prohibited them fromexecuting an important observing function. The arrests of many activists and journalists in their function as peaceful observers continued on March 26th, which as well gives us reason to express our deep concern.

Future dialogue

The Danish Institute for Human Rights remains open to constructive dialogue and is ready to provide all our knowledge, tools, methods and concepts to Belarusian authorities in order to assist them in bringing the state system into compliance with international human rights and rule of law standards.

However, such dialogue demands clear signs of readiness on the side of Belarusian authorities. We urge Belarusian authorities to accept the necessity of revising the methods used during the past two days, and commit to reviewing those policies, regulations and practices that are not in line with international norms and standards. As one of the leading experts in the field of human rights compliance of the state bodies, we remain open for cooperation and assistance.

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